


Found For Life

by LallybrochLoser



Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Morning, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Family Fluff, Romantic Fluff, The Lallybroch Library, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21912850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LallybrochLoser/pseuds/LallybrochLoser
Summary: From a Nonnie: Jamie takes in a homeless Claire (with/without a kid/pregnant) to help her get back on her feet. Ends up finding love.
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Comments: 17
Kudos: 188





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I went in a little bit of a different direction for this one. There will be a second and final part before the end of the year. Shoutout to thelallybrochlibrary for their Holiday Fic Exchange thing! Enjoy, let me know what you think, and happy holidays y’all!

Running a multi-billion pound whisky distillery in the Scottish Highlands usually left owner Jamie Fraser with a lot to be thankful for, but little time for a personal life.

For one thing, he was thankful his late father, Brian, started him in the family business, known as Fraser Distilleries, when he was young. By the time he had graduated from high school, he knew every detail about the actual distilling part of the business. He knew how to hand select the right ingredients, and it led to his knack for creating unique blends and recipes for some of the distillery’s most famous whisky. Brian naturally gave his son the credit for his creations. By the time his father had died unexpectedly in his sleep, Jamie was ready to run the business on his own.

Under Jamie’s careful ownership, the business flourished. They’d started exporting their products outside of Scotland and the rest of the UK, venturing into European, Asian and now American markets. He always managed to stay engaged with his local community of Broch Mordha and made massive donations to multiple charity organizations straight from the company’s profits. Jamie has always been viewed as a local hero to his community.

If only his mother and sister could look past the fact that, despite being successful, he was in his mid-thirties and single.

“Ye need someone tae share yer life wi’, laddie!” Ellen Fraser exclaimed during one of Jamie’s monthly visits to Lallybroch, his childhood home. She shared the home with said sister, Jenny Murray, her husband Ian, Jamie’s best friend, and their four children.

“Aye, look how weel it’s worked out fer me and Ian,” Jenny chimed in, causing Jamie’s eyes to take a keek at his brain. “Yer nieces and nephews would do weel wi’ a cousin tae play with, don’t ye think?”

“Dinna ask yer opinion, Janet,” Jamie all but growled. But deep down, he couldn’t fault his family for thinking so. It was something he thought about often. How nice it would be to share his bounty with another. How amazing it would feel to hold a baby of his own making in his arms, rock it to sleep, soothe it when it was crying. But where would he find the time? His entire life, since his father’s passing, had revolved around Fraser Distilleries. And with the expansions, he saw himself on planes out of Scotland more times than he was home.

Jamie left Lallybroch feeling less at home than he’d ever felt in his life. He was the only one in his family who was unmarried and without bairns. While he knew his family wasn’t trying to make him feel insecure, their words bit at his heart.

He decided to take a walk through the village of Broch Mordha to clear his mind before driving home. It wasn’t a far drive, less than fifteen minutes. Fraser Distilleries were in Broch Mordha and employed more than half the village, but he also liked to keep what little home life he had separate from work. The sun was quickly setting on the picturesque town and there was a cool glow in the sky as he walked around, turning down an old neighborhood street. And given it was a week before Christmas, the entire village was alight with lights, decorations and that annual festive feeling. Jamie was always happy to give his employees Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off; most of them had their own families and work didn’t need to be done on those days anyway. However this year, with his thoughts on his mother and sister’s words, he couldn’t help but wish he had his own family to celebrate with.

A clattering of angry voices and stuff being thrown about brought his mind back to the present. The noise was coming from one of the houses three doors from where he now stood.

“Ye worthless Sassenach!” A man called out as he threw random objects out of the house and at a young woman. “Canna even keep a job long enough tae pay the rent! I’ll see that no one in Scotland ever rents tae ye again!”

“Now wait just one moment, Mr. MacNab!” The woman’s English accent caught Jamie’s attention more than her angry former landlord. “I told you I can make something work! This is unnecessary!”

Jamie recognized the name she spoke aloud in desperation. “Alright there, Ronnie?” He called out, making his towards the stramash. “That’s no’ a verra nice word tae use ‘round these parts, ye ken.”

The man and woman froze in their place. The man out of sheer terror, the woman out of curiosity.

“Och…evenin’, Mr. Fraser,” the man’s demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. One moment full of ire, the next full of respect. “H-Havin’ a wee stroll?”

“Aye,” Jamie said slowly, looking between him and the woman. The woman avoided his eyes. From embarrassment or anguish towards Scotsmen, he didn’t know. “Though, the stramash ye’ve caused drew my attention. What all this about then?”

The older man was hesitant to say anything. The Sasseanch, however, was not.

“He’s throwing me out of my home. I missed one measly payment on my rent and suddenly there’s a problem, even though we had a verbal agreement.”

Jamie looked from the woman to Ronnie, an eyebrow raised. “Is that true, Ron?”

The man continued to avert his eyes. Jamie wouldn’t settle for that. He approached him and made the man look him square in the eyes. “Ronald?”

“Yes, Mr. Fraser.” He was visibly sweating now, despite the late December chill in the air.

“Ye ken the law. If there’s an agreement betwixt ye twa, ye have to honor it.” Jamie looked at the woman and, for the first time, noticed she was very pretty. “What was the agreement, madam?”

The woman slowly brought her eyes to his, and he saw her slowly visibly relax. “He said I could finish paying this month’s rent next week, when I get paid. But my employer laid me off. I’m not able to make it. He said it was fine and that ‘we’d figure something out’. But suddenly today, it’s a problem and he’s kicking me out! A week before Christmas!”

Jamie grew angry. Ronald MacNab had been one of the first employee’s of his father’s when the distillery was started. To see him treat his tenant so poorly…well, none of his three children will have anything to do with him so it didn’t entirely surprise him. But that didn’t matter to the situation at hand. He drew in his own ire for the older man and slowly approached the woman, holding out his hand.

“I dinna believe I ever got yer name, Mistress,” Jamie said politely.

“Claire,” she replied, and Jamie’s insides started to thaw despite snow starting to fall around them . “Claire Beauchamp.”

“Jamie Fraser,” Jamie said with a smile as Claire shook his hand. For a woman with soft looking hands, she clearly worked with them for a living. “A pleasure. So…what would ye like to do? Nay, Ronnie, ye get no say in this.” Jamie glared at his employee. The man kept silent.

This time, Claire was the one to hesitate. “Well…” a deep breath passed between her lips, “I don’t want to stay here, but I have nowhere else to go. No one will be renting out so close to the holidays. But honestly, I’d rather be homeless than deal with this nonsense again!”

Jamie’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t take his eyes of the beautiful Sassenach. “Ronnie, retrieve this woman’s things from her home. And ye’ll no’ be throwing anything else.” Jamie’s glare penetrated the man’s anger in a flash, and he disappeared into the home.

“What are you doing?” Claire asked.

“I canna have ye homeless sae close to Christmas. That means yer comin’ wi’ me.”

“I will do no such thing!” Claire exclaimed. “I don’t even know you! We just met!”

“Well then,” Jamie’s smirk made Claire feel warm suddenly, “ye’ll have plenty o’ time to get tae know me then. I live just up the way. Nay bother.”

Jamie could see her softening to the idea and as Ronnie deposited the last of her belongings onto the porch, slamming the door behind him without another word to either person, Jamie felt himself lighten at the possibility of spending Christmas with someone.

“If ye wanna wait here, I’ll go fetch my car,” Jamie said, “‘tis no’ far from here.”

“Okay,” Claire replied, not really knowing what else to say or do.

Twenty minutes later, Jamie and Claire, along with all her stuff, were jolting down the wintery road towards his home. It was a small house in the middle of what looked like forestry, but to Claire it was beautiful.

“Where are all your Christmas decorations?” She asked, catching Jamie off guard. “I would have expected at least some lights along the edge of the roof.”

“Ahh,” Jamie began, “I, erm, wasna plannin’ on decoratin’ this year.”

“Why not?”

Jamie gave her a point blank look of seriousness and, if Claire looked hard enough, sadness. “What’s the point? Ye see where I live. And I dinna have a family, other than my mother and sister, her husband and bairns. I live alone.”

Claire looked at Jamie like she was going to cry. Who doesn’t at least attempt at decorating for Christmas?

“Do you have decorations?” She asked.

“Aye.”

“Well, since you have opened your home to me, I wouldn’t mind decorating for you. Seeing as I don’t have a place of my own to decorate anymore.”

Jamie considered it for a moment, but in that time, Claire had already gotten out of the car and unloaded her stuff. She took it, and walked towards the front of the house. Jamie unlocked his front door to let her in. As he put a fire in the fireplace, she took a look around.

“You have a tree at least, right?”

“Should be in the attic.”

“Good. Go get it. And, while you’re up there, all your other decorations. If for nothing else, I will enjoy seeing some festiveness around here.”

Jamie wanted to begrudge her for giving him what felt like orders in his own home, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he made his way towards the attic to retrieve all the dusty Christmas decorations. Claire started by setting up the tree, putting up its lights and hanging ornaments. Halfway through, Jamie joined her, the two of them spending the time getting to know one another. Then they ventured outside and Jamie climbed onto the roof to hang lights up, despite it being well past dark. By the time three in the morning rolled around, the house was as lit as the Christmas tree inside. They were sharing a glass of wine, continuing their “getting to know you” conversation.

To Jamie, Claire had had a rough upbringing. Her parents died when she was five, her only living relative, an uncle, shipped her off to the first boarding school that would take her, and rarely visited. After he died when she was ten, she went from foster home to foster home until she was eighteen. After that, she managed to secure a grant for nursing school. She had been working as said occupation at the Inverness Medical Centre for the last four years when they laid her off. Jamie had heard the failing complex was recently sold to a pharmaceutical company and they were slowly letting all their employees go.

“And that’s how you found me tonight,” Claire said, finishing off her third glass of wine, “coming home without a job and having to tell my landlord I wouldn’t be able to make rent.”

“Weel,” Jamie began, “Ronnie MacNab is a prickly auld man but I always imagined he had more honour than that. I’m sorry fer my employee’s rash behavior.”

“He’s your employee?”

“Aye. More than 65% of Broch Mordha is a Fraser Distillery employee.”

“I should have known your name sounded familiar,” Claire smiled, and it brightened Jamie’s entire world. “The second generation of one of the best and most famous whisky makers in the Highlands. Your reputation precedes you, good sir.”

All Jamie could do was blush a furious red; his eyes even turned pink. Claire laughed.

“You’re good company, Jamie,” Claire said, moving a bit closer to him. “You also clearly have a good heart. If I were you, I would’ve fired Mr. MacNab, for sure.”

“Well,” Jamie said, “If it wasn’t fer my father, he would’ve been gone already. He was good friends wi’ my Da. Well see how weel he does this next year. I dinna have a professional reason tae get rid o’ him. Yet.”

They shared a laugh before Jamie offered Claire more wine. But she declined, saying she was tired. Jamie showed her to the guest room, promising her he’d help properly move her in on the morrow. They bid each other goodnight and Jamie made his way towards his bedroom. But sleep didn’t come easily that night. All he could think about was the whisky-eyed Sassenach and how in the world he was going to tell her he’d already fallen deeply in love with her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I managed to write the final part immediately after the first one. WUTTT!!! Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks to everyone for their love! Enjoy and let me know what you think :D

Over the next few days, Claire felt like she was on cloud nine.

Waking up in the same house as Jamie, sharing meals and conversations with him, was as easy as breathing. She felt like she’d known him his entire life, and he was great company. He was also someone she could stare at for days on end and never get tired of his beauty. Was it appropriate to call a man beautiful? Before meeting Jamie, she thought the answer would be no. But there really was no other word to describe him. Jamie Fraser was the most beautiful man she’d ever met.

There must have been some mutual adoration between them because Claire would catch Jamie’s gaze lingering for a bit longer than was would be considered appropriate, and then he’d look away with pink ears and a cheeky grin on his face. It was quickly becoming her favorite thing about him. He wasn’t afraid to show her things and wasn’t used to not speaking his mind. 

On the morning of Christmas Eve, he announced that he would be spending his holidays with his mother and sister at their family home. A place called Lallybroch.

“Would…” he began, nerves he wasn’t accustomed to started to show on his handsome face, “would ye like tae come wi’ me?”

“Only if you don’t think I’d be in the way,” Claire replied, wondering why he would be nervous of bringing him home for Christmas.

“Och, o’ course not! I just…I dinna wanna get in the way of whatever yer plans were fer the holidays. I ken ye dinna have any family, but that doesn’t mean-”

“Jamie,” Claire said smoothly, finding it irresistibly cute how flustered asking her to come home with him made him. “It’s alright. Unless you’re…worried…about me being there with your family.”

“N-No! Of course not! Why d’ye think I asked?”

“Because you don’t me staying here alone on Christmas?” Claire paused for dramatic affect, and Jamie grew a shade redder in the cheeks. “Or maybe…you don’t want to be alone…despite having a house full of people.”

A sheepish grin slowly spread across his face. “Ye got me there…Just! Ach…” Jamie stuttered again. “Dinna pay any mind tae what my mother or sister might tell ye…about me…”

Claire wanted to inquire what the hell that meant, but let it go. Jamie and Claire started packing and within an hour, they were pulling up to a grand stone three story house that Claire swore looked like a castle. Four young children managed to tackle Jamie to the ground the moment he exited the car.

“Welcome home, Jamie,” an older woman with red hair that was starting to turn blonde with age wrapped her arms around the tall Scotsman. “And…” she turned her fierce green eyes towards Claire’s whisky-colored ones. “Who have ye brought home wi’ ye, lad?”

“Mam,” Jamie took a deep breath, facing his mother, who was still in his arms. “this is Claire Beauchamp. Claire,” he let go of his mother and stood behind her, a warm hand on the small of her back. “This is my mother. Ellen Fraser.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fraser,” Claire offered a hand for the woman to shake.

“Och please,” Ellen ignored her hand and gave Claire the tightest hug she could. Given how tall the older woman wasn’t, that squeeze could have easily knocked the breath out of a man bigger than Jamie. “Welcome to Lallybroch, Claire! We’re glad yer joining us! It’s about time Jamie brought a lass home!”

“Mother,” Jamie hissed under his breath, but Claire just smiled. Oh now I see what his hesitation was about, she thought amusingly. Thirty six and single with no family of his own, his family wants that for him.

As they made their way inside, she let her mind wandered. She’d never been married before, and with her work as a nurse, never seemed to find the time to even want to hang out with coworkers at pubs for late night drams. How could she find love when all she did was work, eat and sleep? She allowed herself the possibility of such a life. Married to a wonderful, loving, supportive man who wouldn’t make her give up her work to stay home and be a housewife. Being able to give him children, and those children being happy and healthy, living in a warm, loving home. Then she envisioned some of those children with fiery red hair.

“Sassenach?” Jamie called out to her, extending his hand with a smile on his face.

Claire looked up at him and saw it all. With him.

“Yes?” She said, wondering if he could read her thoughts.

“Come meet my family, will ye?”

“Of course.”

Claire spent the rest of Christmas Eve getting to know Jenny and Ian, and their four children. Wee Jamie was named affectionately after his uncle, though he looked exactly like his mother. Maggie and Kitty weren’t too far apart in age but the way they acted, they could’ve been mistaken for twins with how attached at the hip they were. And Wee Ian was the spitting image of his father and namesake, and it was clear he dotted on Jamie’s every breath. Anytime Jamie would sit down, Wee Ian wasn’t too far behind, climbing into his lap.

“Uncle Jamie,” the small boy looked up at Jamie with wide eyes. “Is that woman gonna be our auntie someday?”

“Ian James!” Jenny called out from the kitchen. “Dinna be askin’ yer uncle such questions!”

“It’s alright, Jenny,” Jamie said softly, “after all, it’s natural to be…curious about such things…” Jamie’s eyes wandered over towards Claire, and his nerves calmed a bit internally. What was it between them? Was it usual to be this attracted to a person so soon? Jamie looked at his nephew. “I dinna ken, lad. We’ll just have tae see how things play out, aye?”

The young boy didn’t seem to understand, but the way Jamie was looking at Claire, it was like their minds, and hearts, were connecting on the spot.

Jenny saw the look between them, and wandered back into the kitchen to tell her husband. “Dinna be surprised if we find ourselves plannin’ a weedin’ come spring.”

“I thought it was just me seeing heart eyes betwixt them,” Ian said with a smirk.

“Must run in the family,” Ellen piped up, having entered the kitchen from another entryway. “Yer Da and I used tae look at each other like that. And I can see the two of ye still do the same thing, even after four bairns. They’re love between them. Anyone wi’ functionin’ eyes can see it.”

—

Christmas morning was a white one for Lallybroch. The children were excited to open all the presents under the tree. All the adults were settled into chairs with mugs of fresh coffee as the shredding and flying of wrapping paper went on.

Among the presents, Wee Jamie got a toy train set, to which big Jamie promised he would help set it up. Maggie and Kitty got matching play make up and tea party sets, and they promptly announced that everyone was invited to their fashion tea party show later that afternoon. They tried to forbid Wee Ian from coming, but their uncle wouldn’t hear of it.

“If Wee Ian isna gonna be there, then why would I go?” Jamie had a mischievous glint in his eyes that only the adults could see. This prompted the girls to almost start crying before they swore Wee Ian wouldn’t be excluded.

Speaking of Wee Ian, his favorite present was a shovel. An odd present, Claire thought, until Ellen explained that the young boy had expressed helping her in the gardens come spring and summer.

“I wanna be a gardener one day!” Wee Ian exclaimed to Claire.

“You will make a fine gardener some day, Ian.”

“Ye really think so, Auntie?”

Claire’s heart skipped a beat and she fought against the tears threatening to slip out. “I really do, Ian.”

Jamie looked like he was going to cry too, but he had a stone face compared to Claire’s glass one. If he was getting emotional, he didn’t show it.

“There’s one more present under the tree,” Jenny said. “Who’s it fer?”

Before anyone could say anything, Jamie got up from his seat and reached for it, bringing it to Claire. “It’s for you, Sassenach.”

Claire was stunned. “Me? Oh, Jamie! Guys…” she looked all around and there were nothing but knowing smiles around the room. “You guys didn’t have to get me anything, I-”

“Ye dinna get tae come tae Lallybroch fer Christmas and expect nothin’ under the tree,” Ellen said. “Besides, Jamie insisted. He made sure ye got something special today. Ian helped to acquire it fer him so ye wouldna suspect anything.”

“‘Tis why ye havena seen much o’ me since ye got here,” Ian said proudly.

Now she couldn’t stop the tears. One slowly snaked its way down her cheek, but it, and the one falling from her other eye, didn’t get far as Jamie gently wiped them away. He was kneeling in front of her as he handed her the gift.

“Open it, Claire.”

She slowly unwrapped the small box so everyone could see. The little white box beneath the paper felt a bit on the heavy side and the lid on the box itself had a certain crest embossed on it.

“Je Suis Prest.” She said aloud. “I am ready.”

“Fraser Clan motto, ye ken,” Jamie said proudly.

Claire smiled at him as she removed the lid. She gasped slightly and retrieved an aging set of pearls on a string.

“Oh Jamie,” she breathed, “they’re beautiful! Oh dear, these must have cost you a fortune.”

“Dinna cost him a penny, deary,” Ellen said. “They were mine. A weddin’ gift from my late husband. While, I ken Jamie isna proposing tae marry ye now…he did want ye tae have them. They’re verra special to me, and to him…as are you, lass.”

Claire looked from Ellen to Jamie.

“Claire,” Jamie began, his voice brimming with emotion. “I ken we’ve only known each other a week, but yer already my entire world. I canna imagine livin’ wi’out ye. Will ye stay wi’ me? Be by my side forever? That’s my Christmas wish. I love ye, Sassenach.”

It was confirmed. Jamie was reading Claire’s mind. She took his face into her hands, and his eyes fluttered a bit at the contact.

“I’d want nothing more, Jamie Fraser.” She leaned into kiss him, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down into his lap. The children made grossed out noises in the face of this but Jamie and Claire ignored them. This moment was about them, and the life they were about to lead.

Jenny Fraser Murray was never one to be a seer, but she was right about one thing. By the time spring rolled around, Claire Beauchamp became Claire Fraser. Jamie’s proud, strong, and beautiful wife.


End file.
